The New South Wales Government promises to appoint an independent specialist to conduct its inquiry into the extent of loose asbestos contamination in the state. The appointed specialist will work with the state's Heads of Asbestos Coordination Authorities. The chairman of that body is Peter Dunphy, who is the chief executive of Workcover NSW. PM asked him what residents should do if they suspect their home contains loose asbestos.

Transcript

MARK COLVIN: The New South Wales Government promises to appoint an independent specialist to conduct its inquiry into the extent of loose asbestos contamination in the state.

The appointed specialist will work with the state's Heads of Asbestos Coordination Authorities, or HACA.

The chairman of that body is Peter Dunphy, who is the chief executive of WorkCover NSW.

Nick Grimm asked him what residents should do if they suspect their home contains loose asbestos.

PETER DUNPHY: The first thing is not to go in and look for it. Only houses that were built before 1980 are likely to have it. We must emphasise we've only found 13 houses in the whole of NSW so it's very unlikely that people will have it in their ceilings.

But if they believe they've got insulation in their ceiling, and it's a very grey rough insulation, like a wool almost, in their ceilings, if they believe that they think it could have been something that was installed in the '60s and '70s and maybe loose insulation, we're providing a free testing service.

So they can contact 13 10 50 and we'll organise a test to be done for those homes.

NICK GRIMM: So someone will visit their home and take a sample and take it away to the laboratory?

PETER DUNPHY: That's right, yes. We're certainly encouraging people not to take their own samples, not to bring in samples to your local council or to state agencies, we'll organise for a licensed assessor to do that.

NICK GRIMM: One asbestos removal expert I spoke to suggested that perhaps what needs to be done is in cases where homes, individual homes, are identified with, as containing this loose-fill asbestos, the surrounding area should also be examined because there's likely to have been, the use of this kind of asbestos is likely to have taken place in clusters as it were?

PETER DUNPHY: Yeah that's quite possible because Mr Fluffy often, when he operated I think did operate on a street by street basis, so that is a potential and that's certainly something that the inquiry would be looking into to see if we can establish any patterns like that.

NICK GRIMM: What's your best knowledge at this stage about whether there were any other operators, any other businesses that were also installing loose-fill asbestos like Mr Fluffy did?

PETER DUNPHY: The only information we've got at the moment is very anecdotal. There were some reports of maybe another operator operating in the south-west of NSW. We think that was an operator who was linked to Mr Fluffy. So it probably was part of the same organisation but that's something , another avenue that we'll be pursuing.

There was also talk of an operator in the CBD, ah sorry, the Sydney metropolitan area but we believe that was an operator who was installing fire insulation, sprayed limpet, and that was mainly commercial and industrial buildings.

NICK GRIMM: So you believe you can discount that suggestion that there could have been homes in inner Sydney that could be affected?

PETER DUNPHY: Well we don't have any evidence to suggest at the moment. There was some anecdotal evidence from the ACT Government that there might be in Ku-ring-gai and North Sydney areas but we don't have anything to confirm that but we are working with those councils to see if we can identify any records.

NICK GRIMM: I've actually spoken to asbestos assessors in the Sydney area who said that there could be hundreds of homes in the Sydney area that contain loose-fill asbestos insulation?

PETER DUNPHY: We're also working through our asbestos assessors because WorkCover does licence them and we're also following up any leads, but at this stage all we've got is anecdotal information. We haven't been able to identify any positive locations at this time.

NICK GRIMM: But would it be fair to say that a detailed investigation is yet to take place? This is indeed what has been announced by the NSW Government?

PETER DUNPHY: That's absolutely right and what we're trying to do is get a much more definitive picture I guess of what's the likely use of loose-fill insulation was in NSW.

NICK GRIMM: It is anticipated, though, isn't it that in the Canberra area where homes like this have been identified that experts are saying that they will need to be demolished?

PETER DUNPHY: Yeah, well that's certainly a position that's been considered in Canberra and we're certainly taking a risk management approach. So we'll make our decisions on a case by case basis, but we'll certainly be looking at all options in terms of the houses that we look at.

MARK COLVIN: Peter Dunphy is chairman of the New South Wales Government's Heads of Asbestos Coordination Authorities, or HACA. He's also the CEO of WorkCover NSW. He was speaking there to Nick Grimm.

And the phone number Peter Dunphy mentioned in that interview for anyone who is concerned about the problem was 13 1 0 50.